The present embodiments relate to cryogenic spiral freezers for chilling and/or freezing, for example, food products.
Cryogenic spiral freezers for freezing food products, for example, have been known since approximately 1970. Such known type of freezer is provided and sold or leased in a single configuration only, i.e. having an inlet for product positioned lower than an elevated outlet, either a clockwise or counter-clockwise rotational drum (but not both), and a single throughput. Later modifications in the industry reversed the positions of the inlet and outlet relative to each other, i.e. arranged the inlet to be at a higher elevation than the outlet for the product, and the drums to rotate through different degrees of rotation, either clockwise or counter-clockwise. However, in all known constructions, a user selected a particular configuration and accordingly, each spiral freezer was constructed in that particular single configuration.
With respect to existing and known spiral freezer configurations, any single configuration of the freezer selected by the user for product freezing would have to be redesigned by designers and engineers in order to reconfigure the freezer for different product use or operation at a different facility. Such reconfiguration would include at least disassembling the existing freezer, cutting and rewelding an internal framework and wall panels of the freezer to accommodate the new configuration, and then reassembling the freezer for subsequent testing and installation at a customer site, followed by commissioning prior to commercial operation. All of this work consumes at least three months for the fabrication and therefore, reconfiguring known freezers would take from between three to nine months of design time, plus an additional three months of fabrication time in order to obtain the reconfigured freezer for the desired application and/or facility. Such reconfiguration consumes many internal resources, additional fabrication time and workshop space.